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Should I pray?

Posted on: April 25, 2008 - 5:38pm

Theia

Posts: 207

Joined: 2008-04-13

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Should I pray?

I'm getting on an airplane tonight. Should I pray it doesn't crash?

If my plane is about to crash, but I pray correctly, God will intervene and save the plane just because I asked right, as if he didn't know I would have preferred the plane not crash until I told him? Or, if God had intended the plane to crash, then he'll change his mind just for me, right? But then, why would he listen to me since he would know what's best for me and the plane anyway and do whatever he'd do even if I hadn't prayed? It's not like he's going to go, "Oh, you're right. I shouldn't let the plane crash. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!"

If the plane ends up crashing anyway, then either it was "my time" or "God works in mysterious ways"?

So why pray at all?

"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher

If my plane is about to crash, but I pray correctly, God will intervene and save the plane just because I asked right, as if he didn't know I would have preferred the plane not crash until I told him? Or, if God had intended the plane to crash, then he'll change his mind just for me, right? But then, why would he listen to me since he would know what's best for me and the plane anyway and do whatever he'd do even if I hadn't prayed? It's not like he's going to go, "Oh, you're right. I shouldn't let the plane crash. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!"

If the plane ends up crashing anyway, then either it was "my time" or "God works in mysterious ways"?

So why pray at all?

The tsunami victims and Katrina victims and 9/11 victims and Hitler's victims all prayed, and the one thing God did not do is prevent those things from happening in the first place.

You'd think God could aim a little better when he get's pissed. But, what would you expect from a character who is willing to sit on his hands and watch millions drowned.

Prayer is no different than crossing your fingers or a 4 leaf clover or rabbits feet.

I wouldn't pray. I'd think about my family and friends. I would think about the asshole terrorist or possibly the incompetent pilot or mechanic. I would hope that I went quickly. BUT, the last thing I would do is pray to a prick who needs violent drama to feed his ego. Fortunately for me such a prick is fictional. Unfortunately far too many people believe such superstitious beings exist.

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."ObamaCheck out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under BrianJames Rational Poet also on twitter under Brianrrs37

The tsunami victims and Katrina victims and 9/11 victims and Hitler's victims all prayed, and the one thing God did not do is prevent those things from happening in the first place.

That's pretty much my point. So to the theists out there, what makes you think God is more concerned about you, in seat D12, in your particular airplane out of all the planes in the sky, than all those other people in Katrian, etc, who were praying, who maybe even prayed more often and better than you? And if your pray isn't answered was it because you didn't pray hard enough? Or was it because God knows what's best for you anyway, in which case, why bother praying? Even if there were a god there seems to be no point in prayer other than making yourself feel better for some reason.

"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher

It's a waste of time, it gets you more worried about it, and what if the FSM is real and all the people praying to Jehovah, Jesus and Allah pisses him off enough that his noodly appendage sprays marinara sauce in the pilot's eyes causing a crash?

Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team

It's a waste of time, it gets you more worried about it, and what if the FSM is real and all the people praying to Jehovah, Jesus and Allah pisses him off enough that his noodly appendage sprays marinara sauce in the pilot's eyes causing a crash?

I think you've found the real reason for all the evil in the world! The FSM does not like being unpopular. Now if we'd all just start praying to the FSM then (sing along!):

Then peace will guide the planetsAnd love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of AquariusThe age of AquariusAquarius!Aquarius!

Harmony and understandingSympathy and trust aboundingNo more falsehoods or derisionsGolden living dreams of visionsMystic crystal revalationAnd the mind's true liberationAquarius!Aquarius!

Uhmm...what ever happened to that age, anyway?

"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher

I think I'd be too busy bracing myself or putting on an oxygen mask or doing some other thing that the stewardesses said earlier in the flight might save my life in case of an emergency to pray.

But that's just me.

Quote:

"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."

Well, I didn't pray and my plane stayed in the air when it was supposed to.

Rather than praying I spent time looking out the window pondering the technological accomplishments of Mankind that enabled me to hurtle through the air at 35,000 feet. It's really quite amazing what humans have accomplished all by themselves.

Yet, despite my crediting humans, rather than God, for the technological wonders of our world, my plane wasn't struck down by lightening. I guess God wasn't offended that he didn't get any credit for it, eh?

"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher

Well, I didn't pray and my plane stayed in the air when it was supposed to.

Rather than praying I spent time looking out the window pondering the technological accomplishments of Mankind that enabled me to hurtle through the air at 35,000 feet. It's really quite amazing what humans have accomplished all by themselves.

Yet, despite my crediting humans, rather than God, for the technological wonders of our world, my plane wasn't struck down by lightening. I guess God wasn't offended that he didn't get any credit for it, eh?

No prayer of thanksgiving to the Brothers Wright? No pious utterance of the Sacred Equations of the Bernouli Effect? =^_^=

"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different."
- Douglas Murray

On a flight once, my companion quiped the old cliche about 'when it's your time to go...'

It occured to me then...what if it's the PILOTS time to go?

LC >;-}>

Christianity: A disgusting middle eastern blood cult, based in human sacrifice, with sacraments of cannibalism and vampirism, whose highest icon is of a near naked man hanging in torment from a device of torture.

On a flight once, my companion quiped the old cliche about 'when it's your time to go...'

It occured to me then...what if it's the PILOTS time to go?

LC >;-}>

My theist friend argues that God arranges everyone's travel plans such that only the people whose time it is to go will board that particular plane, hence the "miracle" of a traffic accident that made that one person who was not yet scheduled to go late and miss the plane.

Of course, for this idea to work we have to ignore the fact that this would require God's intervention in your daily affairs and would therefore be overriding your free will of having the choice not to get on the plane. But, hey, that's the way theists argue things, changing the rules whenever they need to make a point, even if it means contradicting a point they argued earlier elsewhere.

"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher

My theist friend argues that God arranges everyone's travel plans such that only the people whose time it is to go will board that particular plane, hence the "miracle" of a traffic accident that made that one person who was not yet scheduled to go late and miss the plane.

So..... your associates god looks something like William Shatner and their religion is like Priceline?

LC >;-}>

Christianity: A disgusting middle eastern blood cult, based in human sacrifice, with sacraments of cannibalism and vampirism, whose highest icon is of a near naked man hanging in torment from a device of torture.

Just last night I prayed (with Kelly as a witness) that the DVD we were watching would stop showing a jumbled picture. About 3 minutes of the movie was ruined. I prayed to Jake, and it was fixed within 5 seconds. Then I rewound the portion of the DVD that had previously been scratched and we re-watched it in crystal clear clarity. Not only did he fix the problem, but he repaired the damaged portion of the DVD.

You'd have to be a fool to not pray to Jake. It only takes ears that can hear, eyes that can see, and a brain that works to know that prayers to Jake are crucial if you expect to make it through life.

Quote:

If my plane is about to crash, but I pray correctly, God will intervene and save the plane just because I asked right, as if he didn't know I would have preferred the plane not crash until I told him? Or, if God had intended the plane to crash, then he'll change his mind just for me, right? But then, why would he listen to me since he would know what's best for me and the plane anyway and do whatever he'd do even if I hadn't prayed? It's not like he's going to go, "Oh, you're right. I shouldn't let the plane crash. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!"

If the plane ends up crashing anyway, then either it was "my time" or "God works in mysterious ways"?

So why pray at all?

This paragraph is jargon. Who and what is this god you are referring to?